Countdown to danger... or the terrifying speed at which cake, coffee and other treats harm your body

Australian scientists have reported that it takes only half an hour for a salty meal to significantly impair the arteries’ ability to pump blood around the body.

But that’s not the only bad habit that can have immediate effects on your health. We look at how quickly your vices can damage your body:

CIGARETTES: THREE SECONDS

‘The effects of inhaling cigarette smoke on the body are staggeringly quick,’ says Professor Robert West, Cancer Research UK’s director of tobacco studies.

Stop the clock: Ditch the vices that damage your body

Within just a few seconds, smoke reaches the lungs, forcing the heart to work harder and causing blood pressure to rise.

Smoke also causes irritation and inflammation of the airways, triggering the often immediate cough in first- time smokers, and persistent smokers’ coughs in longer- term smokers. Within seven seconds of every puff, nicotine reaches the brain, releasing the feel-good hormone dopamine.

‘In many smokers, it’s that first drag with its dopamine boost that leads to long-lasting dependence,’ says Professor West.

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Carbon monoxide — the colourless, odourless, deadly gas in car exhaust fumes — is in cigarette smoke in more than 600 times the concentration considered safe in industrial plants.

‘With every puff, the carbon monoxide levels in your blood go up, so they’re highest in the minutes just after you’ve finished a cigarette,’ says Professor West.

The chemical ‘kicks’ the oxygen molecules out of your red blood cells, meaning less oxygen reaches other vital organs. Oxygen levels return to normal only six hours after smoking a cigarette.

And a cigarette can cause genetic damage to your body in just 15 minutes.

A study of 12 smokers, published in the journal Chemical Research In Toxicology, found levels of cancer-causing substances known as polycyclic aromatic hydro- carbons (PAH) peaked 15 to 30 minutes after smoking.

SUGAR: TWO MINUTES

Watch out Kate: The negative effects of smoking kick in in just three seconds

Even before you swallow it, sugar affects your health, according to Ursula Arens of the British Dietetic Association.

‘When you expose your teeth to sugar, the number of bacteria increases dramatically. These convert sugar to acid, which erodes enamel,’ she says.

‘If you suck on a sweet and eat nothing else, your mouth will be back to normal in one hour, because of the neutralising effect of saliva.

‘But if you’re constantly eating sweets or sugary drinks, it will keep those acid levels consistently high, which will lead to decay.’

Sugar causes an almost instant increase in blood glucose —
consistently raised levels are a risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Levels
drop again in an hour, which leads to irritability, tiredness and
hunger. ‘Eating sugars or starches with fats and protein — a wholegrain
ham sandwich, for example — delays the absorption rate of sugar,
resulting in less dramatic peaks and troughs,’ says Ms Arens.

Sugar raises insulin levels, which inhibit the release of growth hormones, which in turn depresses the immune system.

Having
the equivalent of 20 tsp of sugar was shown by U.S. researchers to
cause up to a 40 per cent drop in the ability of white blood cells to
engulf bacteria.

This was most noticeable two hours after ingestion, but the effect was evident after five hours.

ALCOHOL: SIX MINUTES

Researchers in Germany have found it takes six minutes for alcohol to cause damage to the brain.

They recruited 15 men and women to lie in brain scanners sipping the equivalent of two pints of beer or three glasses of wine.

The
concentration of compounds that protect the brain decreased as alcohol
levels rose, reports the Journal Of Cerebral Flow And Metabolism.

While
the effects of moderate consumption of alcohol are reversible, the
researchers said this could help to explain the permanent brain damage
that is known to occur in alcoholics.

SALT: 30 MINUTES

Tucking
into a salt-packed ready meal or shaking salt liberally over your lunch
can stiffen the arteries within half an hour, impairing their ability to
pump blood around the body, a study in the American Journal Of Clinical
Nutrition reports.

70

per cent of men in Britain who suffer a stroke are under 65

‘Interestingly, the meals tested contained just 4g of salt, significantly less than in many ready meals and takeaways,’ says Professor Graham MacGregor, consultant in cardiovascular medicine at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine in London.

‘Consuming salt makes your body retain up to two litres more fluid, which puts pressure on your heart and cardiovascular system.

‘High blood pressure is the single biggest cause of death in Britain.’

CAFFEINE: 30 MINUTES

half an hour after you drink a cup of coffee, the caffeine it contains slows the blood flow to the skin and organs.

The compound causes nerve cells to release the hormone adrenaline, which prepares the body for ‘fight or flight’.

This increases heart rate, blood pressure and blood flow to the muscles, but reduces blood flow to the skin and organs.

FATS: 45 MINUTES

Saturated fats — found in foods such as biscuits, cakes and cheese — disrupt the body’s system for blood clotting, says Ms Arens.

‘In less than an hour, a meal high in saturated fats increases the risk of blood-clotting, which can lead to stroke and heart attacks,’ she says.

‘But a diet high in poly-unsaturated fats and omega-3s — which comes from nuts, seeds and oily fish — counteracts the effects of saturated fat.’

Australian scientists found that even one meal rich in saturated fat can affect the ability of ‘good’ HDL cholesterol to protect arteries against damage.